Policies and promises: why America needs DACA

With a presidential administration in place that apparently seems to push only for the rights of already privileged individuals, the United States suffers what can only be described as yet another loss for immigrants and people of color nationwide: the unprecedented removal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known as DACA.

DACA, established during the second term of former president Barack Obama, is an immigration policy that permitted individuals who illegally entered the U.S. as minors to receive a renewable, two-year period of relief from deportation. The executive action also issued eligibility for a work permit to these same individuals, making it much easier for illegal immigrants to establish a permanent presence within the U.S. and secure means of providing funds for themselves while residing within the border.

The termination of this program forces the 800,000 participants into tumultuous ultimatum that is estimated to take effect as early as March of 2018. President Donald Trump has never been kind toward the Hispanic community, but to shun the entirety of those benefiting from DACA is an unforgivable aggression from a political institution that, with each day, churns more bigotry from within its populace. The removal of DACA is a movement toward the unconstitutional deportation of thousands. This is an awful reality for many when one takes into consideration that since DACA is a government spearheaded program, the addresses of participants are in the hands of the very Homeland of Security that threatens their life within the United States.

Moreover, the vulgarity with which Trump’s cabinet addresses the matter is unnecessary and excessive – very much in the same way how their president, a leader who is ideally supposed to provide solutions, hands Congress a six-month deadline to institute a replacement legislature before he begins restricting DACA’s benefits. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who spoke with the president at the Justice Department, stated that DACA “denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same legal aliens to take those jobs.”

What truth, statistically, lies in those words?

As observed through the 2015 McKinsey research study, companies that embrace racial diversity outperform national revenue mediums by that of 35 percent. Despite this, as of 2015, only about 2.5 percent of Microsoft’s, an exceedingly lucrative and rather global corporation, executive employees identify as Hispanic/Latino. Industries fueled by diversity are seen to numerically outperform time and time again. In fact, according to a Harvard Business Review article, those employers who embrace ethnic diversity within their leaders are 45 percent likelierto report that their business’ market share grew over the previous year and are 70 percent likelier to report that the company was capable of branching forward into a new market.

Numerically, Sessions’ words don’t add up. How can immigrants be robbing ‘hardworking’ citizens of their jobs, when Hispanics and people of color as a whole are at a disadvantage of even being hired? Branching off the same query, why stand opposed to diversity in the workplace when, financially, industries that are more diverse perform better than companies that retain a uniform, primarily Caucasian employee demographic?

The very presence of DACA recipients within our economy act as a catalyst of financial prosperity. Considering that nine out of ten participants are employed, the termination of the program would result in a severe loss of human labor – something not easily replaced, as every business day DACA renewals are halted, over 1,400 jobs are lost. Even without factoring the sheer impact ending DACA would have on our economy, the cost to do so would have catastrophic consequences on its state. It would cost the gross domestic product a whopping $406.3 billion, and upon factoring in the consequential devastating shortage of human capital, its repeal would result in a $6.3 billion deficit because of employee replacement.

Trump’s decision was apparently spurred by a desire to terminate injustice for “the millions of Americans victimized by this unfair system.” For generations of undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children and often unwillingly, the apparent racial discrimination as to who meets this “American” criteria is dishearteningly clear-cut.

Policies and promises: why America needs DACA was last modified: September 28th, 2017 by Melissa Santoyo